The scope of the encyclopedia goes beyond modern Iran (also known as "Persia") and encompasses the entire Iranian cultural continent, and far beyond. Relations of the Iranian world with other cultures (China, European countries, etc.) are also covered.

The project has published 15 volumes, and is planning on publishing a total of up to 45 volumes. The full text of most entries is available free for on-line viewing encoded with unicode.[f 1]Ehsan Yarshater stated that the completion of the project is scheduled for 2020 in an interview with BBC Persian.[3]